If running your service-based business feels like keeping 12 million tabs open at once, I know the feeling.

You’ve got one tool for sending proposals. Another for contracts. Another for invoicing. Maybe you’re designing proposals in Canva, signing contracts through a separate e-signature platform, tracking payments in a spreadsheet, and scheduling clients somewhere else entirely.

And somehow, YOU are responsible for making sure all those moving pieces actually talk to each other.

That was basically my life when I was running my photography business.

Years later, after becoming an attorney, building The Legal Paige®, and watching thousands of creative entrepreneurs and service providers struggle with many of the same problems, I kept coming back to one question:

Why can’t there be one simple place to handle the core pieces of the client experience really, really well?

So I built it.

Meet Retainly.

What Is Retainly?

Retainly is a client management platform built for creative entrepreneurs and service-based business owners who need a straightforward way to manage:

• Leads and clients

• Projects

• Proposals

• Contracts

• Invoices and payments

And that intentional simplicity is important.

I didn’t build Retainly because the world needed another CRM packed with every feature imaginable.

I built it because so many business owners I talked to were overwhelmed by bloated software, complicated workflows, expensive subscriptions, and platforms they were only using 15–20% of.

Retainly is intentionally focused on the core client-management tasks service providers do every single day.

Why I Decided to Build a CRM for Service-Based Businesses

Before I was an attorney, I was a wedding and portrait photographer in Western Montana.

And my backend systems? They weren’t exactly streamlined.

At different points, I had one tool for contracts, another for invoices, my inbox for proposals, Canva for designing things, spreadsheets for tracking payments, another tool for scheduling, and sticky notes reminding me to follow up with clients.

Nothing talked to anything else.

I was copying names and email addresses between platforms, wondering whether clients had signed things, chasing invoices, and paying for multiple subscriptions that each solved one small part of the problem.

Then I went to law school.

That gave me an entirely different perspective on what happens when the legal side of your business becomes an afterthought.

Contracts living in email threads? Not ideal.

Verbal agreements with nothing signed? Also not ideal.

Invoice terms that don’t line up with contract terms? You see where I’m going.

Over time, I tried other CRM platforms and continued talking with The Legal Paige® community about what they were using and what frustrated them.

Eventually, in August 2024, I was sitting on the deck at my cabin with a couple of business friends and asked:

Why doesn’t what I want exist? And why don’t we create it?

That was the beginning of Retainly.

What Does Retainly Actually Do?

I could tell you Retainly “does everything,” but that wouldn’t be helpful. It also wouldn’t be true. Retainly is designed around the basic flow most service providers already use with their clients.

1. Manage Your Leads, Clients, and Projects

A lead comes in. You add that person to your client list and connect them to a project. Retainly also includes lead forms to help bring those potential clients into the system. From there, you can keep the essential pieces of that client relationship connected instead of copying information across five different platforms.

2. Send Professional Proposals

You can create and send a clean proposal outlining your packages and services. Your client can review the proposal and formally accept their selection, and you can see whether they’ve opened it. So instead of wondering, “Did they even SEE that proposal?” you have visibility into what’s happening.

3. Send and Sign Contracts

This is the part of Retainly I care about A LOT. Contracts are intentionally at the center of the platform. Your client receives the contract online, verifies their identity using a code, works through the document, and signs it without needing to create another client login or remember another portal password. 

Retainly also alerts the business owner when it’s time to counter-sign. I wanted the contract experience to feel professional for your clients while also making the signing process straightforward for you.

4. Send Invoices and Get Paid

Once the contract is handled, you can move right into invoicing.

Depending on what your business needs, Retainly supports:

• One-time payments

• Installment payments

• Recurring payments

• Invoice line items and descriptions

• Taxes

• Discounts

• Notes

• Credit and debit card payments

• ACH payments

• Manual payment options such as Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, and PayPal

You can also record a manual payment inside Retainly and make a note about how it was paid. The point is to move your client from proposal → contract → invoice without constantly jumping between disconnected systems.

What Makes Retainly Different From Other CRMs?

The biggest difference might actually be what we’re not trying to do.

Retainly isn’t trying to have 100 features just so we can list 100 bullet points on a sales page. We’re focused on doing the core of business simply and beautifully.

That means Retainly® may be worth exploring if you’ve tried larger CRMs and found yourself thinking:

• “Why is this so complicated?”

• “Why am I paying for all these features I never use?”

• “Why does onboarding take forever?”

• “Why is my contract workflow so clunky?”

• “Why am I still piecing together multiple tools when I’m paying for a CRM?”

And if you’re moving from another system, Retainly® includes CSV migration so you can bring over client or project information without rebuilding everything from scratch.

The Legal Paige® Contract Integration Is a BIG Part of Retainly

If you already own contracts from The Legal Paige®, this is where things get especially exciting.

Traditionally, you’d download your The Legal Paige® contract, work through my comments and highlighted sections, finalize everything, and then potentially copy and paste that document into whatever CRM or e-signature platform you use.

And copying and pasting a legal document into another editor can create a whole new round of formatting and field setup. I wanted to make that process easier.

When you use the same email address for Retainly that you used to purchase your The Legal Paige® contracts, your purchased contract templates can populate directly inside Retainly under your purchased templates.

From there, the Retainly contract editor includes features designed specifically around working through those documents, including smart fields, navigation through contract clauses, and my comments alongside the document.

You finalize your template once, save it, and then use that finalized template with future clients. No repeatedly copying and pasting the same contract into another platform.

Why Contracts Sit at the Center of Retainly

This wasn't an accidental feature decision. I’m an attorney. Of course I care about the contract part.

But more importantly, I’ve seen what happens when business owners treat contracts as something they’ll “figure out later.”

Retainly is designed to make contracts part of your normal client workflow rather than a disconnected legal task.

That includes functionality around proposal acceptance, contract signatures, counter-signatures, third-party access, third-party payer addendums, and contract addendums and amendments.

The goal is simple: make the legal side feel like a natural part of running your business.

What Is Retainly 2.0?

We finalized the initial Retainly build at the end of 2025 and began with a small group of beta testers before gradually bringing more people into the platform. Then we kept listening.

On September 1, 2026, Retainly 2.0 launched. The core functionality didn’t suddenly change. Instead, we gave the platform a major user-experience refresh to make navigation cleaner, easier, and more professional.

We also launched something our growing community had been asking for: Refer & Earn.

How Retainly Refer & Earn Works

Word of mouth played a huge role in growing The Legal Paige®, and I want Retainly to grow the same way: through people who genuinely use and love the platform.

Paid Retainly subscribers and lifetime members can access Refer & Earn from their dashboard, agree to the program terms (because OF COURSE there are terms and conditions), and receive a referral link and code to share.

When someone signs up through your referral and becomes a paid user, you can earn cash or Retainly credit.

As described in this episode, the current referral structure includes $5 per month for qualifying monthly subscribers or a $35 flat fee for qualifying annual subscribers.

What’s Coming Next for Retainly?

We aren't trying to chase every shiny object in the software world.

Our North Star is still the same:

Make proposals, contracts, invoices, and simple client/project management better and easier for service-based business owners.

At the time of this post, we’re working on and testing additions including:

• An improved third-party payer workflow

• Project statuses and tags

• Additional project customization

• Project file sharing

• Improvements to contract addendums and amendments

• An elevated white-glove onboarding experience

• Calendar and scheduling functionality tied to projects

And, importantly, those decisions are being driven by what actual Retainly users are asking for.

This platform is user-led and community-backed. I don't want to build a feature just because I personally think it sounds cool. I want to know it solves a real problem for the people actually running their businesses inside Retainly®.

Is Retainly Right for Your Business?

If you want every automation, workflow, AI tool, and possible CRM feature under the sun, Retainly may not be what you’re looking for.

That’s intentional.

But if you’re a photographer, creative entrepreneur, freelancer, coach, wedding professional, or other service provider who wants a simpler way to manage the core client experience, Retainly was built with businesses like yours in mind.

Especially if you’re tired of stitching together proposals, contracts, invoices, and client information across a pile of different platforms.

Try Retainly

Building Retainly has been one of the hardest—and most meaningful—things I’ve done in my adult life.

It’s the platform I wish existed when I was an overwhelmed photographer trying to run my entire business out of seven different tabs.

Now, I get to build it with this community.

You can try Retainly with a 30-day free trial at getretainly.com. Use code THELEGALPAIGE for special, limited time, founding-member pricing. 

And if you already own The Legal Paige® contracts, make sure you check your purchased templates inside Retainly. If your The Legal Paige® and Retainly accounts use different email addresses, the Retainly team can help you get everything synced.

Come build this thing with us.

Legal Disclaimer

The information provided in this post is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as individualized legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and legal requirements vary based on your circumstances and jurisdiction, so consult with a qualified attorney regarding your specific business and legal needs.